He sprained his ankle in shootaround a few games ago, had to be helped off the court. He definitely would have played tonight otherwise, you guys are crazy (and misinformed) if you think he was benched with Harden out.
thats exacly why with brewer he should be getting around 10mpg. in november was the only time he got connsistent playing time and was playing too much due to injuries. january was better for him minute wise avg 13 a game but his numbers were ugly. hopefully he's played enough to improve this offseason and be a rotation player if he's still on the team.
i feel this is unfair. papa is the type of 'prigioni' player whose value isn't reflected in the stat sheet. the thing I love about papa is the dude really knows how to move the ball which is not what you can say about a lot our players. but yes, papa needs to work on his jumper and limit the TOs. the dude is just a rookie after all. he will be a major contributor off the bench next season. book it.
I like Papa. But the garm tends to think that anyone on the bench is a star if only mcfail would play them I agree he has a good feel for the game but he isn't quite ready
James has to be surrounded by other wing defenders to take the pressure off of him meaning Papa has to be better at guarding 3s to get some time while James is on the court OR Papa has to be able to play a stretch 4 role. Right now his skill set isn't suited to either job but who knows - maybe he bulks up this offseason and finds a little range and he gets a combination of SF and stretch 4 minutes next year. If I'm Papa, right now I'm most worried about KJ McDaniels taking those minutes next year. His play suggests he could be a very valuable two way wing player sooner than Papa will be....
Honestly Papa seems like a player well suited to the Spurs/Hawks system of ball movement to make up for a lack of speed/athleticism. Houston has to run the ball through James because he is the best in the league at generating shots. SA/Atlanta would be the same way if they had James.
He sprained his ankle, pretty badly according to when they were talking about it initially. That might just be code for "Get on your shot!" though. Strongly disagree... he's a rookie trying to adapt to the NBA after playing overseas.
The guy is out with an injury. All this speculation is just that... speculation. If cyberx pops in, or someone else "in the know" does, and says he didn't play for another reason, I'll listen. Otherwise, why insult the guy? That's what some of you are doing. Do you kick your dog, as well?
NBA teams don't parcel out minutes to 10-11 guys night in/night out "you get 5, you get 10" - it doesn't work that way, it will never work that way. they play who they need to play to win games Papanikolau isn't good enough to be in the rotation now with Brewer & Jones and Prigioni, and doesn't give the Rockets as good a chance to win games. So he sits. As he should.
This. They even showed a video of it a couple of games ago. It was just a freak thing they were running layup drills but he had to be carried off the the floor. The conspiracy theorist on this board are embarrassing sometimes.
